Journey through life and death with the upcoming production Esperanza at the Festival of Animated Objects this coming spring
By Hannah Caparino, January 28 2026—
With the Festival of Animated Objects (FAO) returning in the spring of 2026, Ivan Guevara Garcia sat down with the Gauntlet to talk about his show that will be featured in the festival. He wrote and directed, Esperanza, which follows a girl who learns about life and death through the lens of someone who’s recently passed into the beyond. Garcia had explained his own cultural inspiration and the devised theatre process as he assembled his team and puppeteers, as well as his choice to pursue non-traditional storytelling.
“I’ve been really inspired by, like mask work … and I’ve always wanted to incorporate shadow theatre. I’m really interested in elements of animating things. So I just found that wanting to do shows that included my culture just naturally kind of fit these other types of art forms too,” said Garcia.
One of the aspects of the show is how it uses masks, movement and puppetry to depict the story. Garcia makes a point that displaying and characterizing the dead shines through non-textual storytelling, bringing life back into these through their movement and expression to make the connection between death and life.
“I think this show needs more magic than what just like human actors could put on stage. So to embody that, we can bring to life objects just how we’re trying to bring back characters that are dead,” said Garcia. “I’ve always been interested in non-text work. So I’m very inspired by physical movement, storytelling and how can physical movement be a universal language.”
Garcia had explored how the performance gives the audience an opportunity to suspend their disbelief and enter the show uninhibited by prior notions about death. With Day of the Dead recently taking place, Garcia explained how death is not a reason for someone to mourn but a celebration through theatre and masks. He hopes that the warmth and love felt during the holiday is portrayed in the play.
“I think when you bring things to life through animation, there’s a sort of magic that we believe,” said Garcia.
The show employed many students at UofC and formed a team of mask-makers, sound designers, puppeteers and more. The process utilized an interdisciplinary process; where the human performers are mimicked by shadow puppeteers, creating shadows of different characters who interact with the dead and with the living. The music composition also elevates the story and creation process, creating specific moods and motivations for the scene and the characters.
Garcia emphasized the importance of diversity in his team in order to highlight a number of voices and experiences, while presenting a personal holiday like Day of the Dead in an authentic manner.
“I did make sure there’s a lot of BIPOC people in our cast. […] So Mariza (Ferananda Iturbe-Becerril), who is my co-director, she’s also from Mexico and we’re both immigrants, so it’s always helpful to collaborate on shared experiences we have because we’re really adapting it to become our own version,” said Garcia.
What separates Esperanza from other theatre shows is its adaptability which differs from Western theatre. Garcia emphasized how the show is developing pitches for grants and funding to put on their show in multiple events and festivals. While the show fits well into festivals, the performance and narrative can be staged in multiple ways and in multiple theatre spaces.
The themes of the show work hand-in-hand with the performance, pushing for the audiences to think about life and death in a different way.
“I kind of wanted to change a bit how we might think about loss. Like one of our big messages for the show is, ‘can we make our goodbyes have the same joy of a first hello?’ That’s really important for me,” said Garcia. “Death is honouring and remembering, not mourning and reminiscing about something we can’t have back, they’re still with us. So I guess I want people to learn to appreciate when people pass away, that they can still be here with us in our memories, in a present kind of moment, not like a past moment.”
Another perspective that Garcia wants audiences to take away is how grief affects everyone. Proposing that the dead also miss the living and their loved ones, holding the grief in the land of the dead and expressing their love through movement.
Information about the FAO can be found on their website and for more information about Esperanza can be found here.